LIST OF KEY DOCUMENTS FOR AGENCY ANNUAL REPORT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP77-00389R000100230037-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 29, 2002
• Sequence Number: 37
• Publication Date: January 16, 1973
• Content Type: MF

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OGC Has Reviewed
16 January 1973
MEMORANDUM FOR:
Members of the Records Management Board
SUBJECT
List of Key Documents for Agency Annual Report
REFERENCES
a.
b.
Memorandum from Executive Director-Comptroller
to Deputy Directors dated 26 May 1972,
Subject: Information Control--Archives,
History, and Records
Memorandum from Executive Director-Comptroller
to Deputy Directors dated 3 July 1972,
Subject: Agency Annual Report
OGC
FOIAB5
1. This memorandum provides supplemental guidance as to what
documents and files should be included in each component's submission,
plus additional background information on the relationship of the key
documents lists to the Agency's Archives and History programs.
Legal Requirement for Archives
2. In recognition of the obligation of a democratic government
to give an accounting of its performance to the citizenry, Congress has
enacted legislation to ensure that records no longer useful for admini-
strative or operational purposes not be destroyed until they had been
appraised for possible historical interest and research value.
3. The basic law governing the disposition of government records
is the Federal Records Act of 1950 (PL 81-754), which requires the head
of each agency to "cause to be made and preserved records containing
adequate and proper documentation of the organization, functions, poli-
cies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions of the agency
and designed to furnish the information necessary to protect the legal
and financial rights of the Government and of persons directly affected
by the agency's activities." This law places the function of issuing
records disposal regulations under the Administrator of General Services
and empowers him to inspect the records of any Federal agency and to
obtain disposal reports from them.
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5. MARS publishes guidelines from time to time in the form of
General Records Schedules, which deal with the disposition of certain
types of records common to many governmental organizations. Permissive
in character, they are designed, i.e., to throw further light on the
categories of records which must be retained indefinitely or must be
considered for retention. Additional guidance can be obtained from
MARS through the submission of specific requests for disposal authority
(Standard Form 115).
FOIAB5
Mechanism for Identifying and Controlling Records of Archival Value
6. Records Control Schedules, prepared for each major component,
are employed.by the Agency to stipulate the various retention periods
for all classes of records and to provide for their orderly retirement
or disposal. A newer device, the Records Retention Plan, complements.
the Records Control Schedule by identifying record types which should
be preserved for their historical value and, for each component, by
listing files which are believed, to meet the stated criteria.
7. Records which must be retained indefinitely tend to fall into
two general classes--those which must be preserved on an across-the-
board basis and those where the Agency is to be selective. Retention
of such records as Agency regulations, finished intelligence publications,
disseminated information reports, and published maps is both all-inclusive
and mandatory. All such items must be preserved and procedures have been
or will be developed to provide for their orderly retirement to Archives.
For some categories of records, however, the ultimate disposition of
specific documents, file units, films, and other record media is depen-
dent upon an appraisal of their worth. Most subject files and project
files would seem to fall within this class.
8. It is Agency policy that the Archives should consist of a
relatively small and manageable body of essential recorded experience,
The screening of the great quantities of records which must be appraised
before destruction can be authorized is, of course, a monumental task
but not an impossible one if the work is decentralized and performed on
an annual basis. The preparation of the key documents list is therefore
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in one sense a first-step review of Agency records, pinpointing those
which provide evidence of the organization, functions, policies, deci-
sions, procedures, operations, or other Agency activities (evidential
value), or are of enduring interest because of the informational value
of the data contained therein.
Relation to Agency History
9. Agency histories prepared in the past have, for the most part,
been. the history of specific components. The emphasis is to be shifted
to event-oriented, rather than organization-oriented histories. Future
histories will'therefore deal with important Agency activities and-oper-
ations, analyzing the ways in which the various elements. of the Agency
worked together to produce the overall contribution to the operation in
question. The new version of the annual report is designed to suffice
as an annual update to the sundry component histories. The key document
list, in this sense, serves as a source bibliography for the annual com-
ponent history update and, at the minimum, should adequately document
the achievements and programs cited in each component's narrative con-
tribution to the annual report. But beyond this, the future needs of
Agency historians in identifying, and locating source materials for the
preparation of event-oriented histories should also be anticipated and,
insofar as possible, accommodated.
Selection of Key Documents
10. The term "documents" should be construed to broadly encompass
recorded information, usually textual, in any format. Rather than in-
dividual documents, it may be appropriate in many instances to include
entire file unit folders (subject, project, contract, etc.). Other
record media materials may also merit inclusion,(e.g., photographic
film, briefing displays).
11. Storage of record materials under the prescribed environmental
conditions is costly, and the larger the accumulation the more difficult
it becomes to arrange, inventory, and retrieve. Insofar as it is con-
sistent with Government-wide policies and guidelines, it is the goal of
the Agency to limit its archival holdings to the "cream of the crop"--
the truly significant and precedent-making materials. (NARS' experience
indicates that only 2-5 per cent of all records of the Federal Government
is of such enduring value as to merit preservation.) To qualify as
"significant," the topics treated by the documents should have had a
substantial impact on foreign policy initiatives and objectives, repre-
sented technological breakthroughs or intelligence coups, or had a marked
effect on component activities, missions, or employment of resources..
The importance may have derived from the sheer magnitude (human and
material resources) of the undertaking, or because it drastically altered
the way things are clone (new collection systems), or because it reflected
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major shift in mission emphasis (task team activities). Failures and
aborted projects, if they were of critical importance or represented
major commitments of resources, should be documented along with the
successes.
12. Once it has determined which happenings, trends, and develop-
ments have been important enough to warrant mention in the annual report--
and, by extension, worthy of documenting in the Agency Archives--the task
remains of selecting the particular documents, file units, etc., needed
to adequately describe and explain them. Generally speaking, priority
should be accorded documents of general scope over documents of partic-
ular scope. Careful consideration should be given to records which deal
with broad policies and procedures, summaries of experiences and actions,
overall direction and major phases of programs, principal trends, and
similar matters of'broad functional significance or historical interest.
To be complete enough to satisfy the needs of historical researchers--
Agency historians and, perhaps at some distant time in the future, private
researchers--the documentation should explain, at the minimum, why an
action was taken, preliminary planning, executive decision points and
authority, implementation steps, progress reports, and post mortems, if
any.
13. It would serve no worthwhile purpose to suggest the number of
key documents appropriate for any particular component's contribution.
The length of a component's list could be expected to vary widely from
year to year in direct relationship to its activities. It is anticipated,
however, that the higher the component is in the Agency command hierarchy,
the larger the percentage of its records that would meet the criteria
established for key documents.
14. The following topics--the list is merely suggestive and is by
no means intended to be exhaustive--might be expected to appear in annual
report contributions and thereby require coverage in the key document
section:
ADP planning and implementation
R&D breakthroughs
Internal reorganizations
Covert action projects
Budget trends
Shifts in coverage or emphasis (subject, area)
Establishment and accomplishments of task forces
Responses to major new requirements (targets, functions)
Planned or implemented changes in collection, processing,
or production
Major improvements in efficiency and productivity of on-
going activities
Special, nondisseminated studies prepared in response to
requests from high-level policymakers
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Intelligence coups
Impact of local developments on overseas operations
Major revisions of agreements and procedures in the
support area
Changes in relationships within the intelligence
community, with Congress, with. the Executive Office
of the President
Retirement to Archives
15. Components are urged to ensure that key documents and file
units identified in the annual report are flagged for deposit in the
Agency Archives for permanent retention once they have become non-
current. There are certain techniques successfully employed by other
agencies which you may wish to consider for adoption. Among these are:
the use of special colored file folders for materials deemed of archival
value; the marking of each file folder, whether it contains permanent or
temporary records, with disposition instructions;. and the storage of per-
manent records in separate safe or file cabinet drawers, with appropriate
labels on the drawers.
16. When, as is frequently the case, a single file folder contains
both documents of enduring value and others of only transitory interest,
an effort should be made to purge nonpermanent records from the file
prior to its retirement to Agency Archives. This task can be simplified
if the practice is followed of filing permanent records on one side of
the folder and temporary records on the other. One agency (TVA) uses a
system of dual folders for file units, one for permanent records and one
for nonpermanent records.
17. Permanent retention records, whether they are individual docu-
ments or file units, should, whenever possible, consist of clean origi-
nals. Microfilm copies, verified for completeness and accuracy, are
equally acceptable--indeed, in the case of bulky files, preferred.
(Federal Property Management Regulations, Subchapter B, Subpart 101-11.5
should be consulted for microfilm standards for permanent records.)
18. The timing of the transfer of permanent records to the custody
of the Agency Archives should be governed by the component's reference
requirements. While in current use, they should, of course, be retained
by the component, and not transferred to Archives until such time as
they become noncurrent. If the records are not in active use but it is
probable that the component will have occasion to consult them, it is
advisable to deposit them in the Agency Records Center, which is better
equipped to provide reference service than is Archives, as an.inter-
-mediate step, scheduling them for transfer to Archives at a later date.
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19. For specific guidance on questions not covered in this paper,
addressees are referred to the Historical Staff, extension 0 or the
Agency Archivist, extension
STAT
FOR THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:
STATINTL
CIA Records Administration Olficer
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